Scorpions, lizards and silkworms...Yummy?
Posted: Sunday, August 10, 2008 8:50 PM by Jen Brown
Filed Under:
Beijing
From Jenna Wolfe, Weekend TODAY host
If you were making me dinner last week and you asked me if there was anything i don't eat, I’d have quickly said, "mayonnaise." Ask me that question today and I’d easily say scorpions, lizards, sea horses and silkworms. Yeah, I pulled a "when in Rome" this week while here in Beijing covering the Olympics, and embarked on
my courageous journey to the Chinese night market (video), sight of all things delicious to the Chinese and, well, interesting to Americans. Walking through the market is one thing, sampling the goods is entirely different. It's not like I’m at Whole Foods tasting a new fruit spread. We’re talking real rodents here, a delicacy to the Chinese. And since I was doing a piece on these little critters, I sort of HAD to taste them.
So I did.
The good news is, I’m still here writing about it, which means I survived.
The bad news, I ate a whole scorpion, lizard, sea horse and silkworm. How did they taste? Honestly, they tasted like chicken, but what doesn't, right? More specifically, peanut crusted crispy salty chicken wing.
I found that if you put a hold on your fears for just a nanosecond, you can do almost anything. This was one of those moments. And if nothing else, at least it was a good source of protein!! So I ate it, and I lived. I have to be honest, even the local merchants were impressed. They probably love the look on the foreign faces when they set up shop each morning.
Now please don't think I did this alone. Jen Lin-Liu (right) graced us with her local knowledge as our resident tour guide for the afternoon, someone to wrap all of this insanity in a little perspective. She owns a culinary school here in Beijing, so if anyone knows about these gourmet treats, it’s her. She explained that the Chinese don't just run around and scarf down scorpions like peanuts. These are all delicacies for them, treats if you will. And the market, especially at night, is a popular hangout place. (A beer, a silkworm, and a date... not bad.) And they're not all that cheap. I paid about $10 US for a lizard. TEN DOLLARS!!!! But in so doing, I also took in a little history, and a little culture, and a little local flavor, and yes, sadly enough, a little stomach ache. But it was worth it, and for the right price, I’d do it again. Maybe. OK, probably not
